IN NEW WORLD, RIGHTS JUST GET IN THE WAY

In your Jan. 10 editorial "Without charge, counsel," you complain that a
court has ruled a U.S. citizen can be deprived of basic civil liberties,
such as the right to a lawyer or the right not to be thrown in jail
indefinitely without charge or trial.

The war on terrorism has opened up a brave new world for every American.
Just think of the scoundrels we can get off the street if we apply this
concept to the war on drugs. The necessity of gathering evidence, getting
search warrants and wiretaps approved by a judge, and then going through
all the red tape of preparing charges, only to have a trial result in a not
guilty verdict at the hands of the defendant's peers, is so inefficient.

And the war on drugs is just the beginning. Don't forget the war on crime,
the war on poverty and the war on ignorance. We can even extend it to the
war on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, because the supporters
of that document are the real culprits who have been hamstringing our law
enforcement agencies.

Robert M. Evenson

Southaven